What To Expect When You're Expecting: Movie Review

To contact us Click HERE

What To Expect When You're Expecting: Movie Review

Cast: Cameron Diaz, Matthew Morrison, Dennis Quaid, Elizabeth Banks, Anna Kendrick, Jennifer Lopez, Genesis Rodriguez, Chace Crawford, Rodrigo Santoro, Joe Manganiello, Chris Rock

Director: Kirk Jones

16 million people have bought the book of the pregnancy help guide, and it's been a perennial New York Times best seller, so perhaps it was inevitable Hollywood would come a-knocking.

It's the story of five Atlanta couples who're in various stages of life but with babies on the mind - either accidentally or deliberately; there's Cameron Diaz's fitness expert Jules, who's secretly sleeping with Matthew Morrison's Evan as they dance their way around a celebrity dance show; there's J-Lo's Holly, a photographer who's about to adopt an African baby with scared silly father to be Alex (Santoro); there's Elizabeth Banks' Wendy, an expert on babies and motherhood who's been unable to conceive despite trying with her hubbie Gary (Ben Falcone) and there's his competitive father Ramsey, who's about to give birth with his young trophy wife (and Wendy's nemesis) Skyler (Decker). Throw into that mix, youngster Rosie (Kendrick) who finds herself pregnant after a one night stand with Chace Crawford's Marco and the baby mix is complete.

But, as ever in life there are trials and tribulations ahead - some of them good, some of them bad.

You should know what to expect with What To Expect When You're Expecting; essentially, it's another one of those relatively asinine, bland Hollywood ensembles which pitches at all demographics and pulls in all kinds of big names.

While it's exactly what you'd think they'd conceive for this kind of film and may have you wishing it'd gestated for another 9 months or so, there are some parts which will appeal to those wanting a film which is cheesy as and predictable.

Firstly, the Dudes Group, which proffers up a male point of view courtesy of Chris Rock and a trio of other dads, is actually funny and amusing. Along with a kid from the group which is accident prone, there's some laughs to be had. There'll probably be some men in the audience who'll be nodding their heads in agreement with their situations - if they're unfortunate enough to be dragged along to this.

Secondly, the cast is all relatively talented and brings a reasonable performance to the table; but especially watchable is Elizabeth Banks' character who, while going through an entirely predictable character arc as she becomes a mess of pregnancy hormones, manages to light up the screen with her turn.

The problem with What To Expect When You're Expecting is, I suspect,  more one of managing your own expectations.

If you want to see a film where life's problems are brought up and then summarily dismissed in a montage of moments or a quick trite solution then this is the film for you; it espouses such life lessons as "Pregnancy's not as dreamy as you've always imagined it to be" and "Becoming a parent can be quite scary, but is ultimately worth it" as it saunters on its way through a formula to its inevitably sentimental end.

Personally, though this film was so condescending and bland with such predictable humour, it made me want to grab the nearest umbilical cord and throttle it.

Rating:

Once again, Garrison Dean fashions a terrific fanmade Expendables trailer, this time with a 'Made in the USA' Expendables II preview.

To contact us Click HERE
I happen to think that the New York Times article that is used as the basis for this wonderful fan trailer is full of crap (cough-Fast Five, Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol-cough), but I still laughed my ass off at this pretty much the entire running time.  And yes, just like two years ago, this Garrison Dean trailer is superior to the official Lionsgate one, although the official Expendables II trailer is indeed a better piece of work than the official Expendables trailer from summer 2010.  Just enjoy this thing and wonder why Mr. Dean hasn't gotten a job from any of the trailer houses yet.  I'm sure he would have had some choice words about the John Carter campaign.

Scott Mendelson

Weekend Box Office: (05/27/12): Men In Black 3 tops Memorial Day while The Moonrise Kingdom slays in limited release.

To contact us Click HERE
The Men In Black franchise returned to theaters this weekend after a ten year hiatus and, for better or worse, performed exactly the same as the prior Men In Black films. The first Men In Black debuted with $51 million over the Fri-Sun portion of its July 4th weekend back in 1997 while Men In Black 2 earned $52 million over the same portion in 2002.  To wit, Men In Black 3 earned an estimated $55 million over the Fri-Sun portion of the weekend with a projected $70 million Fri-Mon holiday gross. 3D-bumps and ten years worth of inflation puts a damper on the numbers (in today's respective dollars, the original's debut would be about $88 million while the sequel would be about $71 million), but the consistency is arguably a little remarkable.  It's arguably only a 'dissappointment' due to the unexpectedly high budget of the threequel, which shut down production for six weeks in the middle of filming in order to work out script kinks.  At a cost of anywhere from $220 million to $300 million, Sony was in the unenviable position of needing an 'out of this world' debut (sorry) to justify the expense, and this otherwise hearty haul wasn't it.   Having said that, it's still Will Smith's third-biggest Fri-Sun debut behind his last two blockbusters from 2007 (I Am Legend's $77 million opening) and 2008 (Hancock's $62 million Fri-Sun debut over July 4th 2008).


Of course, the real story of the film's eventual profitability will be international numbers. Thus its $202 million worldwide debut (as of Monday) means that the film may in fact pay off in the end.  The prior Men In Black films opened during a time when international grosses were just starting to expand, with the first film earning $589 million worldwide back in 1997 ($251 million domestic) and Men In Black 2 earning $441 million worldwide ($190 million domestic).  On the plus side, the film is surprisingly good and it will likely be the "general audiences' second-choice" movie for the next few weeks provided they have had their fill of Avengers repeat viewings.  Regular movie-goers may have vaguely heard about the behind-the-scenes issues, but that's more for we pundits to obsess about and it certainly doesn't show in the final product.  Like that other 80s/90s mega-star Tom Cruise, Will Smith's films tend to be leggy so the final financial picture on this one is not yet written.  Oh, and don't believe anything you read about the box office take being affected by that six-minute Amazing Spider-Man preview that played in front of IMAX theaters.  Other than perhaps fueling some moviegoers to choose IMAX over 3D or 2D, it didn't make a darn bit of difference anymore than that Dark Knight Rises IMAX prologue showing on 10% of the IMAX theaters impacted Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol's IMAX debut back in December.

Not to be outdone by a mere change in arbitrary rankings, The Avengers crossed the $500 million mark on Saturday.  That's just 23 days, better than the 32 days it took Avatar and (more relavant to the discussion) the 45 days it took The Dark Knight.  With an estimated $523 million by Monday, the Marvel blockbuster looks to surpass The Dark Knight ($533 million) to become the third-biggest domestic grosser in a few days.  With $1.295 billion worldwide thus far, it's merely a matter of time (again no inter) before it surpasses Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part II ($1.3 billion) to also become the third-biggest worldwide grosser as well.  It's $37 million Fri-Sun gross makes it the number two 4th-weekend of all time, behind Avatar's $50 million fourth weekend, besting the $28 million fourth weekends of Titanic and Spider-Man as well as the $26 million-grossing weekend four of The Dark Knight.  Dropping just 35% in its fourth weekend, The Avengers seems sure to surpass the original $600 million gross of Titanic and has an outside shot of besting the film's new 3D rerelease-enhanced total of $658 million.  At this point, it appears that the only thing that can slow down this film is the inevitable loss of screens as June kicks into gear (altough the first three weekends of June have only two wide releases apiece while July has just six wide releases the entire month).

The only other wide release was Warner Bros's counter-programming/dumper The Cheranobyl Diaries.  Having the misfortune to be the first 'dumb kids go to a mysterious location and get killed off' movie since Cabin in the Woods, the film opening with just $8 million over the Fri-Sun portion and a projected $10 million over the holiday.  This Oren Peli production probably cost about $75 to produce, so assuming that Warner's overseas strength can make up for marketing and distribution costs, this one is basically an advertisement for DVD.  The big limited release news was the eye-poppng debut of Wes Anderson's The Moonrise Kingdom, which did an estimated $169,000 per each of its four screens over the holiday for one of the biggest limited debut averages in history.  It's $127,000 Fri-Sun per-screen average is the ninth-biggest in history and the largest for any film that wasn't a premium-priced Disney release. It will begin expanding on June 8th.  Weinstein Company opened The Intouchables, the blockbuster (and kinda terrible) French comedy which has already earned $339 million overseas, on four screens this weekend and expects a solid $25,000 per-screen over just the Fri-Sun portion of the weekend (it grossed $101,000). 

In holdover news, Battleship got clipped by the combined might of Men In Black 3, The Avengers, and its own raging mediocrity, falling 60% even during a holiday-enhanced weekend for $10 million over Fri-Sun.  The film should have about $47 million by Monday and it will now struggle to even reach the mere $72 million earned in America by the equally wrongheaded John Carter.  With its international run ending fast at $232 million overseas thus far, the film will probably reach around $325 million in the best-case scenario, which isn't nearly enough to justify to $220-$250 million price-tag.  Unless Universal can turn this into a Universal Studios theme part ride, this is basically a waste of time/money for all involved.  Dark Shadows continues to struggle under the weight of its own irrelevance as well, as the Tim Burton private joke has earned $64 million.  It should crawl to $80 million, with similar overseas results, which would be fine if the film cost $90 million and not $150 million.  What To Expect When You're Expecing dropped just 30% in weekend two, but that's just $7 million off a $10 million debut.  Still, the $30 million Lionsgate production now has $23 million as of Monday, so it should reach its budget domestically.  Lionsgate sold off the foreign distribution for this one, as they so often do, so their financial exposure is modest at best.

Paramount's The Dictator fell about 45% in weekend two, with a projected $12 million four-day holiday weekend.  That will give the obscenely expensive comedy (official budget - $70 million, unofficial budget - $100 million) $44 million after two weekends of play, meaning it will hit $70 million domestic in the best-case scenario with about the same likely overseas busines.  If it actually cost $70 million, then DVD and what-not will eventually put it in the black, but expect major budget constraints for Sacha Baron Cohen's next comedic vehicle.  The big independent film sensation of early summer remains The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which expanded into semi-wide release over the holiday to superb results.  The Fox Searchlight film expanded to 1,233 theaters and earned another $8 million over the holiday for a new projected total of $18 million.  It's already clear that this one is the official designated 'mainstream arthouse film' of summer 2012, and its longterm fate will also be determined by how successfully Sony Classics handles Woody Allen's From Rome With Love (June 22nd) and if Focus Features can successfully expand The Moonrise Kingdom.  May Fox Searchlight have even half that level of success with their next major release, the truly terrific Beasts of the Southern Wild which debuts in limited release on June 27th.

That's it for this weekend.  Join us next time when Universal unleashes the mega-budget Snow White meets Lord of the Rings hybrid, Snow White and the Huntsman.

Scott Mendelson

Guest Essay: "The Part-Time Critic" Kyle Leaman pontificates on Jackie Chan's action-film retirement.

To contact us Click HERE
From time to time, I'm able to offer a guest essay to my readers.  Today's guest author is Kyle Leaman.  Those who have been reading this site since the very beginning may remember Mr. Leaman and his work at The Part-Time Critic.  He was one of my first regular readers and someone who I linked to from time-to-time as his work was often both insightful and insanely comprehensive.  A couple years back (just before he retired from writing) he compiled a list, complete with mini-essays and YouTube excerpts, of the 100 greatest fights in Jackie Chan's action career.  It's so exhaustive that you may need a stunt man to get through it all in one sitting.  So when I read that Jackie Chan had announced that he was officially retiring from action films, Mr. Leaman was the first person I thought of.  I asked him if he had anything to say about it and he thankfully obliged.  So here is, unabridged and unedited save for token formatting, Kyle Leaman's "The Punctuation of an Action Career".      
The Punctuation Point of an Action Careerby Kyle Leaman
In 1978, a filmby the name Snake in the Eagle's Shadow becamea breakout action hit in Hong Kong and the star of the film, a 24-year-old JackieChan, followed it up with the equally successful Drunken Master. Chan then went on to release a major action film inevery single decade since, an unprecedented and unequaled 30-year run. To putthat into perspective, Jason Statham would need to keep making action filmsuntil the year 2032 just to draw even with Chan's run. Even I don't think Icould stomach that many Cranks and Transporters.
While promotinghis newest film at the Cannes film festival, Jackie declared that Chinese Zodiac would be his last actionfilm. The following day Jackie clarified the comments on his Facebook page,saying that the film would be his last "big action movie."  What exactly does Chan mean by "bigaction movie," and does this mean we should start writing eulogies for hisaction career? Is this the end of drunken boxing, super cops, and big stunts?Will everyday objects like ladders and clothes racks now cease to become propsof mass destruction? If we are to understand what Chan means to do with Chinese Zodiac, the punctuation that heis trying to put on his career, we really have to understand the story he hasbeen writing over the last four decades. 
After struggling to step out of the BruceLee sized shadow cast upon the entire Hong Kong film industry, Chan's 1978successes gave him the opportunity to begin casting his own shadow on what anaction film could be. In the following years, his projects began showing signsof his unique voice and vision, but it wasn't until 1983's Project A that Jackie's true potential and unique gifts would berealized in a single film. Project A(a film I consider to be Chan's most quintessential) would not only star a Chanthat did all his own stunts, but whom also wrote, directed, and choreographed thefilm as well. All of the elements that Chan has become so well loved for (broadphysical comedy of errors, homage's to silent film comedians, intricatelychoreographed fights, big stunts, and a family-friendly tone) are present inthis film. It's this prototype of film that I consider to be what Chan callshis "big action movie," and it's the first film that truly began towrite the story of what a Jackie Chan action film could be.
After ProjectA, Chan has been involved in over 50 film projects. I would categorize hispost-Project A projects as follows;day-player, role-player, and big action. What I am calling day-player projectsare ones where Chan is sparsely used and has no significant on-screen role orartistic control of the film. Examples of this are films like 1999's King of Comedy or the Kung Fu Panda series, and account forabout 1/5 of his projects. For this essay, we can dismiss these roles asinconsequential to the discussion.
Chan's role-player projects are ones thatfeature Chan in a significant on-screen way, but where he takes minimalcreative responsibility on the project. Chan may still do his own stunts andchoreography, but that's about as far as his creative control goes on theseprojects. Most of Jackie's American output falls into this category, such as Shanghai Noon, The Spy Next Door, and RushHour. Due to Chan's limited creative control of these projects, he's forcedto try and fuse his particular vision into in the larger artistic vision,producing a range of quality from pitiful (TheTuxedo and The Medallion) toexcellent (Shanghai Knights and The Karate Kid). By my count, nearly 2/5of his projects are of this kind.
At last we come to the defining categoryof Chan's filmography and the category that Chan claims he is retiring from,big action. These are projects on which Chan takes full control of nearly everyaspect and uses the film as a vehicle to showcase himself. Since these filmsallow Chan near free-reign, they also tell us the most about Chan's cinematicvision and disproportionately define his legacy. This category was initiated byProject A and makes up the final 2/5of all projects Chan would take on afterwards, including his newest film Chinese Zodiac. This is the type of filmJackie is retiring from, and by my accounts, has essentially been retired fromsince 2006's Robin-B-Hood.
After ProjectA in 1983, Chan almost solely devoted himself to the "Big Action Movie."This run ended after the mid-90s success of his big American imports like Rumble in the Bronx and Who Am I.  In 1998 Jackie made Rush Hour, his first role-playing project after over a decade ofbig action projects. The next six years were mostly comprised of hit-or-miss Americanmade role-playing projects, with an occasional Chinese film (The Accidental Spy) in between. Whilecreatively frustrating, I think this role-playing phase provided his body witha much needed rest from the physically and creatively exhausting toll his bigaction movies rang up.
In 2004, Chan returned to his big actionmovie roots with New Police Story.While featuring much of Chan's signature elements, it was ultimately a failedattempt by Chan to merge his successful pre-1998 output into the more modernaction template. Chan's big action follow-ups, The Myth (2005) and Robin-B-Hood(2006), were also creatively disappointing. Despite his efforts, Chan could notrecreate the commercial and artistic accomplishments of his previous big actionperiod.
Honestly, I think in these three films wewitnessed the outer limits of what Chan had to offer in the arena of bigaction. This isn't a knock or insult to Chan, I think it's just theacknowledgement that he had exhausted what he had to say in the action genre,his story was coming to a close. I suppose it would be like saying that MichaelJordan had run out of new basketball moves to show the world or that GordonRamsay ran out of new recipes; not an insult, just an acknowledgement ofreality.
I believe Chan recognized this as well,and that is why (beyond being physically exhausted) he has taken on thechallenge of an acting career outside of action. After a six-year hiatus(2006-2012) from big action projects, Chan returns to the big action movie withChinese Zodiac. Even without Chan'sannouncement, it seems to me that ChineseZodiac isn't a sign that Chan has found new creative energy and is enteringanother period of big action projects, but that he wants to close out his bigaction career before his body gives out (he's 58 years old), and so that the2004-2006 run would not be his final contribution to the story he'd beenwriting in the action genre for over 30 years.
Thus, it doesn't seem tragic for Chan tobe ending his big action career with ChineseZodiac; it seems more like the punctuation point on a sentence that hasalready ended. In an age where there is always the possibility for a star'scareer to be more like a repetitive run-on sentence, it can be refreshing for astar to recognize and mark the end.
Looking past the ending of Chan's bigaction career, I think we can still expect him to be involved with actionfilms, but in the role-playing sense similar to his American output from1998-2004. I think the big question his fans seem to be asking in regards to histransition to traditional acting is, "Does Chan have anything particularlyunique to say in the realm of drama, as he did in the realm of action?" Whilehe's only been in traditional roles for a few years now, the answer to thatquestion seems to be, "Not yet." He has seen some triumphs like2009's Shinjuku Incident and 2010's The Karate Kid, but he's mostly experiencedmixed results.  
Looking at Jackie Chan's career as of now,he can be understood to have made one of the most distinctive and uniquecontributions not only to the realm of action films, but to all of cinema. IfChan were to continue and finish his career with nothing but role-playingaction and drama projects of varying quality, then it would still mark animpressive coda to his already impressive career. To expect anything more fromhim is fairly unrealistic and worse, a bit greedy. So this December, call upyour friends, head to the theatre, and enjoy the punctuation point to a storythat Jackie Chan has been writing since 1983's Project A. Sitting in the theatre, I only hope the punctuation ismore exclamation than period. 

Watch/Discuss: Les Miserables teaser delivers the awesome, shoots the film to the top of my 2012 must-see list.

To contact us Click HERE
Holy shit. I got goosebumps just watching this thing.  It's no secret that Les Miserables is my favorite stage musical, however unoriginal a choice that may be.  So the source material is golden, you've got an all-star cast of actors who damn-well can sing, plus an Oscar-winning director who A) has complete artistic freedom and B) arguably has to prove that his Best Director Oscar win wasn't merely a bunch of older voters screwing over David Fincher.  And if I may offer a note of cautious optimism, it's all-too easy to craft a winning teaser for a popular Broadway show.  This follows the same template as the first Rent teaser, where you take the most iconic song of the show and set a visual montage to it for 90-150 seconds.  But we know that Anne Hathaway kills her big number (like that was ever in doubt) and that everyone else at least looks authentic while Tom Hooper seems to be emphasizing the period-specific poverty and squalor in a way that's a little tough to do on stage.  It's no secret that the film will feature live on-set recordings rather than lip-syncing to pre-recorded studio sessions, and it's too early to know if that intriguing gamble paid off (although that heart-wrenching closeup at 1:05 suggests it did).  But yeah, this is probably the film I most want to see after The Dark Knight Rises opens.  Hell, if given the choice to see one of them right now, I'm not sure which I'd pick (okay, I'd pick Dark Knight Rises simply because I don't have the script memorized by heart).  One minor marketing nitpick, the onscreen text 'The Dream Lives' is borderline tasteless considering both the obvious text of the song in question and Fantine's character arc.  Anyway, Tom Hopper's Les Miserables opens on December 14th.  If my wife doesn't like it, she can stay home with the kids while I take whichever of her family members wins the straw game to the press screening.  If Universal has truly pulled this off, then Battleship is completely forgiven.   But, for the sake of cautious optimism, I'm including the dynamite first teasers to Rent and The Phantom of the Opera after the jump.
Scott Mendelson





        

New James Bond Trailer: Skyfall, The Great Gatsby, The Master, The Good Doctor, The Words, End Of Watch

To contact us Click HERE
I am still working on my post for The Dictator; out on video this week is The Woman In Black, This Means War, Red Tails and The Secret World Of Arrietty, all of which I have reviewed but for Red Tails. Here is the trailer for James Bond in Skyfall (November 9 USA release date). We know that M's (Judi Dench) past has come back to haunt her and Bond has to save MI6 from the threat it faces regardless of the personal cost.
Maybe you caught this? A train wrecking through a room (which we saw in Hugo and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close with the re-creation of 9/11 and the airplanes crashing through the World Trace Center) but all three films allude to an engine (two trains and airplanes) crashing into interior areas where they don't belong. It's obviously to early to tell anything about Skyfall, but from previously released set photos, we do know that  villain Silva (Javier Bardem) will be dressed as a cop, and a villain doesn't belong in a cop's uniform, either...
Due out Christmas Day is The Great Gatsby:
It appears that a wonderful actor has made a return to the big screen: Joaquin Phoenix is set to star in The Master (October release) taking place in America in the 1950s about a charismatic intellectual known as "the master" whose faith-based organization starts to catch on and Freddie Sutton (Phoenix) becomes his right hand man (the film has all ready been aired for Tom Cruise because it mimics the life of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard):
With a heavy-weight, all-star cast, including a personal favorite, Jeremy Irons, Bradley Cooper's story of a writer at the peek of his literary success discovers the costs of stealing another's story (September release) in The Words:
"We're cops, everyone wants to kill us," provides a good idea of what End Of Watch (September release) will center upon. Two cops stumble upon a discovery that makes them the most wanted in the city:
Oslo, August 31 (no US release date yet set) is the 24-hour story of a young man recovering from drug addiction taking a day from rehab for a job interview and to catch up with some old friends:
OC87: The Obsessive Compulsive, Major Depression, Bipolar Asperger's Movie is a documentary from a man who wanted to be a film maker but mental illness interrupted that dream:
Beasts Of the Southern Wild (no US release date yet set) is about Hushpuppy, whose father is in failing health. A pre-historic set of beats are released onto the world, so she goes in search of her mother:
Mr. Oliver Stone is quite the liberal, and his newest film Savages being released July 6 is apt to reflect that:
Due out in August, The Good Doctor stars Orlando Bloom, a doctor going to unethical extremes to keep a patient; this could easily have political ramifications if we understand the "patient" to be the United States...
Men In Black III is being released this weekend, I expect that to be a pro-Democrat film. Rather similar to Dark Shadows, MIB3 goes back to 1969, when Richard Nixon became president, the battle known as "Hamburger Hill" started in the Vietnam War, the first steps on the moon were taken by Buzz Aldrin, the Chappaquiddick Incident involving Ted Kennedy took place, Woodstock, the Chicago Eight trials and the begining of the Unix Epoch, among other things. Because the film involves the attempt at stopping an assassination by an alien, I expect it to be the exact opposite of Battleship, that the aliens are the socialists and the real aliens are capitalists... we'll see!
The Chernobyl Diaries, on the other hand, I expect to be anti-socialist because it a communist government that permitted the disaster to take place and the "people" to be found on the site ar ethe "ghosts" of socialism. But wel'll see, I might report that both films were the exact opposite of what I thought they would be and that's part of the fun!

The Devil's Nest: The Dictator & Structures Of Power

To contact us Click HERE
Sacha Cohen Baron's The Dictator is crude, yet there are too many golden nuggets buried within the tasteless jokes to not take notice of the important points being made, and the fact that the type of audience member attracted to this type of humor is probably the same one who has no idea what has been going on in America the last three years, makes it plausible that Baron slips them a healthy dose of reality they might not get otherwise. From the power structures of Feminism to the dehumanization of masturbating and abortion, Baron seems to hit all the major moral issues, including the way the press censors news in America.

Aladeen actually was not the rightful heir to his kingdom, Tamir (Ben Kingsley) was, but Tamir arranges to have Aladeen assassinated, then turn the country into a democracy and start selling off the huge oil reserves to the US and Chinese to become immensely wealthy. Tamir's plan fails, of course, but at the signing of what should have been the country's new constitution, Aladeen gives a very blatant speech on how Americans should not be so disgusted with dictatorship because of all the advantages it provides, a clear indication of who The Dictator is aimed at: President Obama. Hearing this "constitutional signing speech" is exactly like listening to Loki from The Avengers talking about people really wanting to be oppressed because we can't handle freedom. This is part of the great flow of ideas that adversity creates: when art is working against something, similar ideas are inevitably shared, validating the catharsis of those also fighting against the same forces, but demonstrating that the evil and oppression aren't imagined, everyone sees it.

I've mentioned before that comedy, far from "revealing" interesting conflicts within society, is more interesting because of the conflicts it continues to hide... I agree with Sigmund Freud and his masterful work Jokes and Their Relation To the Unconscious that jokes do reveal to an audience a confrontation between something forbidden to discuss in society and the inner-need of individuals to release what is being oppressed. With Baron, however, he manages to do that and point to a door that continues to hide what we are unwilling-or unable-to discuss, and those are specific moral issues that I was quite shocked the comedian took up.

The Supreme Ruler in bed with Hollywood actress Megan Fox (playing herself, as Edward Norton plays himself later in the film). In the trailer, there was a clip of Megan growing through her "compensation" and she held up a small gemstone and asked, "Is this a ruby? Are you kidding me? Do I look like a Kardashian?" and Aladeen replies, "No, you are much less hairy." That part isn't in the film, there is a far more sexually explicit comment, involving a diamond Rolex.

Let's start with the celebrities mentioned in the film first. In the beginning of the film, Aladeen is in bed with Megan Fox, and, upon finishing the sexual act, announces to her, "Now you have herpes." She gets out of bed and wants her "compensation," and mentions that "Katy Perry got a diamond Rolex," and Aladeen replies, "That's because she let me $@#R% in her face" and then Miss Fox poses for a Polaroid with Aladeen after refusing to "cuddle" with him for awhile. After she leaves, Aladeen places her Polaroid with hundreds of others of famous people who have prostituted themselves with Aladeen: Lindsay Lohan, Oprah Winfrey and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Later, the Chinese delegate will talk about buying property next to George Clooney on Lake Cuomo, and how much it would take to pay Clooney to have sex with him, and names Harvey Keitel as all ready giving into him; the Chinese delegate later walks out of a bathroom with a tearful Edward Norton who has obviously just engaged in oral sex with him. What does this mean? All these celebrities are Democrats and supporters of President Obama (with the exception of Arnold, discussed below).

Aladeen and Megan Fox posing for the Polaroid for Aladeen's "memory wall."

Lindsay Lohan, for example, wanted to be a spokesperson for the Obama 2008 election campaign (she was turned down based on her personal life) and Megan Fox is on record for talking about how she thinks Obama is "sexy." Oprah Winfrey, of course, had the Obamas on her talk show and gave the then Senator substantial funds to get him elected. George Clooney has supported Obama and been a driving force in his bid for re-election funds, and Harvey Keitel and Katy Perry both publicly supported Obama's election bid as well. Edward Norton was actually making a movie about Obama. This supports what I wrote last year in Martha Marcy May Marlene about Obama "seducing" people with his rhetoric and promises and how, just like Megan now having herpes, she will go on to infect others by continuing to support "the dictator." (Please remember, I didn't make this film, this is Baron speaking, not I).

The great problem with dictatorships is the lack of competition generating better products and conditions. Aladeen's Olympic races illustrates in his awarding all 14 gold medals to himself that similar allegory of America and the Soviet Union in the Cold War, the arms race, symbolized frequently in the 1960s by "drag races" (think of American Graffiti and Carnival Of Souls). The lousy quality of this race illustrates the lousy quality of nuke warheads Aladeen's nuclear program makes (pictured below).

What about Arnold Schwarzenegger?
It could be said that Arnold, a Republican, leaving the state of California in such financial straits prompted the way for Obama, but given the morality of the rest of the film, I think it predominantly alludes to Arnold's marital infidelity: if you break the bond of matrimony, you're sleeping with everyone, and the scandal of Arnold's personal-life-made-public aided in an easy Democrat/Socialist win (I am not saying, by any means, that Baron himself is a Republican, I certainly don't think he is, however, one Republican who has had a terrible scandal in the midst of a plethora of Democrats supporting Obama brings out Arnold's poor qualities and how his decisions effected the country).

Aladeen inspecting his nuclear warhead at his nuclear development facilities (yes, it's a barn). Aladeen is upset that his warhead is so small, but he's reminded that he had Nadal, the previous head of nuclear development, executed (Nadal, consequently, is the one who aides Aladeen in undoing Tamir's plot because anyone Aladeen has ordered executed has instead been sent to New York to foster an underground against Aladeen). In a speech in the opening of the film, Aladeen says that his pursuit of nuclear technology is "solely for peaceful purposes, clean energy and medical advancements" while, of course, he's trying to keep from laughing, and then he attempts to add, "It won't be used to attack Isr--oh, boy,..." and starts laughing.

But two of the celebrities are specifically linked to the Chinese: George Clooney and Edward Norton. In supporting Obama as fully as these two have done, and the Chinese delegate specifically mentioning sexual relations with them, Baron makes the point that supporting Obama is supporting what he supports, which means, through practice if not in theory, the Chinese ownership of America. When Aladeen parades down New York's 5th Avenue, he says, "Ah, America, built by the blacks and owned by the Chinese," referring to two policies created by Democrats that have nearly ruined this country: the Democrats forcing the Civil War over the issues of slavery in 1861 (led by Democrat Jefferson Davis) and the immense American debt accumulated by Democratic agendas during the Obama Administration. (It's important that Baron brings this up because we will be discussing this again on Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter). To participate in the Obama Administration today is to participate in the selling-off of America to the Chinese.

In the trailer at this part, Aladeen says, "Ah, America, the birthplace of AIDS" (which we have all ready discussed, was actually in Africa, where Aladeen is from, suggesting the scapegoat tendency of Muslim nations blaming the US for everything, and Aladeen does call America "The Devil's Nest" as most dictators would). In the film, however, he says, "Ah, America, built by the blacks and owned by the Chinese."

It's not enough, however, to remind the audience of the Democratic Party's historical and current failures, Baron even takes out the one "credible" achievement of the Obama Administration: the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. Throughout the film, Aladeen remarks several times that Bin Laden is staying in his guest house and floods the bathroom. The "flooding bathroom" refers to Bin Laden's (excuse the expression, please) "shit" blocking the pipes which has caused problems, but not in the Middle East, in America, because of the deaths, the loss of the twin towers as financial centers, the psychological impact it has had on Americans, the hassle today of air travel, the expense to New York City tourism and the additional expenditures on homeland security (and the lawsuits which result from "racial profiling"). Osama Bin Laden has flooded our bathroom, in the USA, and Baron goes so far as to suggest that Obama didn't even get him.

The first reference made to abortion is when a woman unexpectedly goes into labor in Zoey's grocery store and Aladeen tells them that he was Wadiya's number one surgeon (just as Aladeen is Wadiya's number one everything) so Aladeen delivers the baby. When it finally comes out, Aladeen looks at the father and says, "Oh, I have bad news, it's a girl. Where's the trash can?" and prepares to throw the baby away. The second example of abortion comes towards the end when Zoey and Aladeen have been married and Zoey announces she's pregnant; Aladeen asks her, "Are you having a boy, or an abortion?"

But Baron makes a surprising argument against Obama's most popular platform (with Feminists, at least) and that is against abortion. Twice in the film, Baron reminds the audience that if Feminists are so pro-woman, it's usually female babies that are aborted and if Feminists are supporting a political platform that kills women, they are not only in a serious state of contradiction, but are doing more harm to women (the female babies) then the dictators of countries they campaign against. The double (to protect Aladeen from assassination) is literally the double of Aladeen because the double shows how Aladeen's treatment of women is reducing them to the level of animals (when the double starts milking the breasts of a woman as if she is a goat) yet this is exactly in line with "sexual liberation" which Feminists are preaching: that they should not be held by artificial standards of sexuality (which Zoey's whole character is about) and that's why the "talents" of the female virgin guards assigned to pleasure Aladeen's double French kiss each other, their sexuality has been codified by a code of "liberation" (they aren't sexually liberated unless the two women kiss each other, which comes down to an enforcing of sexual conduct, not a liberation from it).

In this shot, Aladeen claims that someone left a bottle of Nair and women's razors in the tip box, insinuating that Zoey needs to shave her armpits. Zoey has politicized everything and everyone in her grocery store, even the act of how a person goes to the bathroom (the lesbian's bathroom). Zoey's growth of her under-arm hair mirrors the non-liberation of sexuality discussed above, that is, if a woman in today's world is really liberated, she doesn't shave her arms. In the end of the film, she says that she will shave her arms for Aladeen, which is probably nauseating to Feminists, but also mirrors Aladeen's need for facial hair to be a leader. The lesson, in terms of hair, can be that hair helps to identify us whether we realize it or not, in how we wear our hair/body hair, or don't, and even that in today's world has become a sign of our political being.

Which leads us to the very graphic birthing scene in the film. As previously mentioned, a woman goes into labor in the grocery store where Aladeen covertly works for Zoey and delivers the baby. During delivery, the camera goes inside the woman's womb to see the baby, as well as the cell phone Aladeen answered during delivery and then Zoey goes into the womb to help Aladeen help pull the baby through. Aladeen and Zoey end up holding hands in the woman's womb and have a moment of bonding, Nadal talking on the other end of the cell phone still within the woman's womb. The point is, the hand-holding between Zoey and Aladeen clearly demonstrates the real purpose of sexual intercourse, the bonding and the procreation of humanity; anything besides that is as foreign to a woman's body as the cell phone inside her.

In the beginning of the film, (as in the trailer at the start of this post) we are told that Aladeen changed words in the language to Aladeen, his own name. For example, instead of saying "stop" or "go," one would say, "Aladeen" or "Aladeen," whichever one you meant. Why? What purpose does this serve? In the policital landscape, it seems there has been the same type of language change, that words such as "hope" and "change" become "fear" and "socialism" and charges to "take courage" really means "shut up." At one point, Aladeen and Nadal go into a funeral for the "father of Harlem," a black leader who obviously was very revered, and they intend to cut his beard off so Aladeen can have a beard again (more on this below), but members of the mourning party realize something's going on and tries to stop them, so Nadal cuts the black man's head off and takes it with them. Nadal himself was supposed to be executed for telling Aladeen how nuclear weapons work (Nadal disagreed with Daffy Duck, basically) so Aladeen ordered Nadal beheaded, only to find that he wasn't. So what's the point of taking the head, and of Aladeen playing with it throughout the film? the head symbolizes the "governing function," for example, Christ is the head of His Body, the Church; because Aladeen turns the decapitated head into a "talking head," there really isn't any other way to understand the "decapitated leader" as being other than President Obama.

And this builds off an earlier scene: Aladeen masturbating for the first time. He wants to have Zoey perform sexual acts upon him, and she tells him that he needs to "take care of that himself" and that most mature adults do it. She puts him in a room and coaches him... after Aladeen climaxes, he comes out of the room and tells everyone about it in very graphic terms (I told you it was crass) but this is part of his point: if it's not proper to discuss in public--as it obviously isn't--neither is it proper to do. This goes back to Zoey and Aladeen holding hands in the woman's womb, because Aladeen makes a big deal about how he had used that hand to... well, enough said.

Why does Aladeen always hold Tamir's hand? It's a false show of friendship on Aladeen's part. It's the forging of a fake bond with his real political rival. Why does Aladeen's beard get shaved off? The beard is either a sign of the appetites or it is a sign of a hermit/old wise man because, in their pursuit for wisdom, they have given up the worldly pursuits symbolized by growing a beard, and this later understanding is why Aladeen refuses to wear a "fake beard" and wants the beard of a leader and distinguished man to wear to make himself look distinguished because the image of a dictator is the dictator.

Lastly are the issues revolving around Israel. Baron's own mother is Jewish and while Baron doesn't consider himself Orthodox, he does go to the Synagogue twice a year. The repeated slurs against Israel and Jews which Aladeen makes is meant to draw sympathy to and awareness to the precarious situation of Israel within the hotbed of Middle East politics and the ways in which Israel is "dumped upon" by other countries wishing to bring an end to the state of Israel and the Jewish people.

The terrible irony is, these female guards are meant to guard the life of Aladeen, but he doesn't guard them, he exploits them for his own sexual pleasure. In this scene when Aladeen enters The Lancaster Hotel, he complains about having to pay $20 a day for internet access (not that we have seen the Surpreme Ruler on the internet) but it's typical that those who rip off others, don't like to have the same treatment applied to themselves. Which now brings us to the scene where the man hired to protect Aladeen is actually going to assassinate him after torturing him. Seth Rogen's character goes through a whole display of torture devices and Aladeen tells him why each one is deficient, because Aladeen has used them all and knows all the techniques.

Obviously, a film about dictatorship involves power structures and structures of power. Zoey's own Feminist politics are themselves dictorial because she reduces everything to "power": either someone steals power from someone or someone has been politically dis-enfranchised. The moment Zoey best communicates with Aladeen is when she hugs him, when she makes an act of love that even a ruthless dictator needs, and that's a total undermining of power structures because everyone has the power to love. Zoey and Aladeen getting married is the necessary conversion of the two of them because they each have to make sacrifices for the other, and that's the only time love really exists.
The Dictator is really packed full of fabulous, well-constructed political messages, it's just too bad that most people won't be able to enjoy them because of the disgusting jokes throughout the film. I'm glad the film was made, validating a number of points I have been talking about, but I wish it were available to a wider audience for viewing consideration.

Men In Black III: Go C It!

To contact us Click HERE

This is what socialism looks like in New York City...

I am so grateful I was wrong!!!!  
Men In Black 3, opening today, is a GREAT capitalist film, done extremely well, really, really enjoyed it! Working on getting that post up tonight and later going to see Chernobyl Diaries!
What a great way to spend Memorial Day!
Regrettably, I am not getting to see Moonlight Kingdom this week (it is coming to my area, just not opening here). It has a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes (unusually high) but there is something you can be looking for: when Sam asks Suzy, "What kind of bird are you?" (and then the Scout Leader says, Sam "flew the coop") it references the big event of 1965, the first "early bird" telecommunications satellite was launched, beginning America's love affair with direct and nearly instantaneous contact between Europe and North America, and allowing for television, telephone, and fax transmissions.
Citing this piece of communications history, the way people in the film communicate with each other (and fail to communicate) will be the history lesson Anderson wants to teach us about how we are today because of what we did in 1965. Has all our advances in technology been for nothing if we have to use a bull horn to communicate with people in the same house as us? It looks to be another great work from Anderson and I can hardly wait to catch it!
GI Joe Retaliation is not opening until March 2013. Despite the success of the original GI Joe, the supposed failure of Battleship at the box office has forced the decision so the film can be adapted for 3-D. That's really upsetting to me, it's not going to be nearly as relevant next year.

DC Universe Classics Guy Gardner

To contact us Click HERE
Guy Gardner, Green Lantern 2814.2 and Hal Jordan's original back-up replacement first appeared in Green Lantern Vol.02 #59 in 1968, but did not become a full time Green Lantern with he's own unique costume until 1985. Guy Gardner is a real distinctive character, he's obnoxious, head strong, reckless, and always ragging on and arguing with he's fellow Lanterns and other Super Heroes, but at the same time is heroic, brave, selfless, and fiercely loyal, everyone has or should have a friend like him. Guy was made available to us in the DC Universe Classics Green Lantern's Light 5-Pack, but not only was the 5-pack rare to find and expensive, I also really wasn't that interested in having the other four figures which were just repaints or head swaps, so only wanting Mr. Gardner I turned to Ebay, and found him new out of package with he's Power Battery Lantern for a reasonable price.
















Guy's uniform is perfectly recreated thanks to new forearms, and new lower legs, which makes him a bit taller then he should be, and he's jacket is a nice soft rubbery plastic slipped over he's torso. He's head has got a lot of mixed reviews, he's skin color and hair color could be a little lighter, and maybe a tad smaller but the sculpt is dead-on with he's original bowl hair cut nicely paired with that arrogant smirk, my only real gripe is that I would of preferred he's more modern shorter hair cut. Guy's paint apps are mostly flat mattes, amazingly though Mattel used a shiny pearl white for the buttons and buckle on he's jacket, but my favorite paint app is the metallic green on he's Power Battery, with has been permanently commandeered by my Modern Hal Jordan to match he's metallic ensemble.
   















I am extremely happy with Guy Gardner, he's one of my favorite DC characters, and I'm glad Mattel gave him to us so we could have all four Earth GLs, and of course to be in our Justice League International team  display. I recommend him to all Green Lantern fans to add your Green Lantern Corps, best of luck getting the 5-pack or finding him in a good condition off-line. I can hope maybe one day in the future to see him with he's modern head, and packaged with a cool construct in the 2013 DC Universe All-Stars.

Gundam AGE-2 Double Bullet Review

To contact us Click HERE
My first Gundam AGE model kit Gundam AGE-2 Double Bullet is now complete. I didn't think I was gonna like AGE-2's Double Bullet weapon pack at first, but after seeing it in action in the series I was blown away and had to have he's model kit. The Gundam AGE TV series is split across three generations each modeled similarly to the first three Gundam Universal Century series, with the AGE-2 being from the second generation with shares similarities with the Zeta Gundam TV series meaning Gundam AGE-2 has a striking resemblance to the Zeta Gundam most strongly in it's also a transformable mobile suit.




















The Double Bullet weapon system is very nicely recreated here with the removable Beam Rifles and interchangeable Beam Saber blades with the shoulder mounted binders movable in three places, and even down to the pop up missile launchers on the back of he's legs. Transformation to Strider flight mode is fast and simple, and only involves the swap out of one part for another, awesomely a buildable flight stand is include in the kit to display the Gundam in Strider mode and flying action poses. I extremely pleased with this kit and it's recreation of the suit's abilities, my only personal want would be two additional larger Beam Saber blades to attach to the binders so he can have both hand held Beam Sabers and the bigger blades all engaged at the same time.

Hugo: Blu Ray Review

To contact us Click HERE

Hugo: Blu Ray Review

Rating: MReleased by Universal Home Entertainment
Asa Butterfield (who many will remember from the Boy Withthe Striped Pyjamas) stars as orphan Hugo Cabret. Cabret lives in the wallsaround the station of Paris in the world of the1930s; after his clock maker father (Jude Law) died in a fire at the museumwhere he worked, Cabret was an orphan.
But Cabret spends his day stealingfood and clockwork pieces from Ben Kingsley's toy shop owner, Papa Georges, ashe has a secret. Hugo is trying to rebuild an automaton left to him by hisfather as he believes the machine has a message from his departed dad.
But, Hugo's missing a heart shaped key for it - and itappears Isabelle, Georges' granddaughter, may be able to help unlock themystery.
Martin Scorsese's film is a passionate piece about a love ofcinema - even though it doesn't start out like that. Initially, it appears tobe a tale about an orphan boy, avoiding the clutches of Sacha Baron Cohen'sstation master.
However, it soon switches to a mesmerizing andbreathtakingly beautiful tale which celebrates the wonder of cinema and theinfluence of early film makers - specifically, one by the name of GeorgesMelies.
It's also a stunning use of 3D as well and it finally makesthe technology feel magical and wondrous.
Opening with a shot of a clockwork mechanism, it fades into a Paris landscape and then swoopsmajestically into the train station - it's a bold and stupendous opening shotwhich shows the scope of Scorsese's ambition for this film.

Cinephiles will love this film - it's bound to be a classiccelebration of the pioneering cinematic forefathers - but Hugo is not just forfilm fans.
It's a beautifully crafted, passionately heartfelt andspellbinding, enigmatic film which is a captivating and magical watch frombeginning to end. 

Extras: A Making of - a little disappointing

Rating:

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: Blu Ray Review

To contact us Click HERE

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: Blu Ray Review

Rating: MReleased by Universal Home Entertainment
Based on the book by John Le Carre andadapted for a seven part BBC series, this latest is an espionage film which sawa long overdue Oscar nomination for Gary Oldman.
Oldman stars as GeorgeSmiley, a retired British spy who's asked to investigate the possibility of aSoviet mole high up in British Intelligence (nicknamed The Circus) in the1970s. The head of intelligence Control (John Hurt) believes the mole is one ofthe four people who report directly to him and has his suspicions givencredence after the shooting of one of their own while investigating his claims. 

But as Smiley begins to investigate, he discovers theconspiracy is a lot deeper than he expected and when spy Ricky Tan (Tom Hardy)returns after apparently defecting to Russia,the web grows tighter.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is not a film for those wholike quick fix entertainment; it's a brilliantly crafted piece of paranoia andsuspicion which rewards engrossing viewing and those who like a complex plot.
Perhaps, unfortunately it is a little dense at times -though that could be more of a reflection on audiences who don't traditionallylap up this kind of material.
Thankfully, riveting performances from an extremely strongcast, led superbly by Gary Oldman, mean you can't actually tear your eyes away.Each of them is given their individual moment to shine as well. Of the group,Benedict Cumberbatch's spy is the stand out performer and although the rest ofthe cast all get their time, it's Cumberbatch (the latest Sherlock) who reallybreaks through here.
The 1970s of Britain aresuperbly recreated with the drab browns and greys and attention to perioddetails being spot on. It's also stunningly shot - but it's Gary Oldman whoreally shines in this adaptation which pours more importance on looks andstares rather than words and exposition.
Oldman brings a nuanced and textured take to the spy who wasso definitively played by Alec Guinness back in the 1970s. There's also acruelty lurking under his precise veneer which you're never quite sure is goingto break out at any moment.
All in all, in a good way, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spyfeels like an old fashioned espionage film - it's suspenseful and masterful andan intelligent night’s worth of entertainment.
Extras: Commentary with Gary Oldman and director, John le Carre interview and deleted scenes
Rating:

The Muppets: Blu Ray Review

To contact us Click HERE

The Muppets: Blu Ray Review

Rating: GReleased by Walt Disney
After 12 long years away, the Muppets are back.
But in a world where TV has moved on and the Muppets are nolonger cool, they've become obsolete.
Except to Walter (a Muppet himself and brother of JasonSegel's Gary) whoidolizes them still after discovering them when he was young.
So when Gary and long time girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams)decide to go to Hollywood tocelebrate their tenth anniversary, Walter is taken along too - and discoversthat evil businessman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) wants to tear down the Muppetsstudio and mine for oil.
Walter takes the news of this to Kermit - and his greennessdecides to get the gang back together and raise the cash they need to buy thestudios back.
However, a major spanner's in the works because none of themare still in touch - will they be able to put aside their differences and findit's time to play the music, it's time to light the lights; in short, will theMuppet Show ever go on again?
The Muppets is perhaps the best Muppet film ever.
Heartfelt, humorous, hilarious and wholesome, it's a welcomejourney back into the nostalgia and the brilliance of Jim Henson's creatures.
There's a simplicity to the story which is just charming andwill reduce you to a dewey eyed sense of yesteryear. There's also a brilliancearound the jaunty songs which pepper the flick; some have an almost Flight ofthe Conchordianesque feel (no surprise given Bret McKenzie and former FOTCshowman James Bobin are involved) - and every single one of them a bright showtune,bathed in lyrical brilliance and clever lyrics.
The Muppets is a self knowing film; it mocks what they'vebecome but never in an overly knowing way; it's a sly wink to the sophisticatedaudiences these days but one which really does make you remember how brilliantthese guys were back in the day. And how brilliant they are once again.
At its very core, this is another chance to see theMuppets do their weekly show which so enriched our younger years, with itsmusic hall sensibilities and its corny gags. They take on the bad guys too andan array of guest stars drop by - the majority of whom have made their showbiznames since the lights went down on the Muppets' weekly show. Sure, it'sprobably nostalgia which is giving this its wondrous feel and maybe it's aimedmore at the adults than the kids, but it works so, so well that you can't helpbut crack a huge beaming smile and shed a joyful tear at how funny, clever,bright and engaging this film is.
Quite simply, The Muppets is an unmitigated joy, a welcomereturn to form and easily the most spectacularly heart warming family film ofthe year.
Extras: Some great stuff here - deleted scenes, audiocommentary, blooper reel, screen test, full Tex Richman song

Rating: